Page:Duty and Inclination 2.pdf/85

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
DUTY AND INCLINATION.
83

desire then to do so equally with her sister Oriana. Having removed for the summer months to a country seat, not far from the neighbourhood where resided her brother, she gave him a cordial invitation to come and spend a few weeks with her; requesting of him also to afford her the company of his eldest daughter, Oriana, specifying that Sir Aubrey was to be of the party; and since Rosilia had taken precedence of her sister in obtaining the first introduction, she was the more desirous of seeing Oriana, not wishing to confer an advantage upon her youngest niece that had not been equally afforded to the eldest.

Highly gratified by the opportunity then offering of affording Oriana those advantages which her sister had enjoyed, the General wrote an immediate compliance with the invitation; and the next day set off with his daughter for Fairfield Lodge. After her aunt's kind reception upon her arrival, Oriana had but time to divest herself of her travelling dishabille, and prepare to meet a large company assembled in the saloon. The decorations of art were infinitely advantageous to Oriana, and in the present instance she arrayed herself with more than ordinary taste. With a perfect command of herself, easy and graceful, she entered with her aunt the wide circle, which immediately